Wall Street Highflier to Outcast: A Woman's Story

Published: February 10, 2002

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Morgan Stanley has said in court documents that her dismissal was a delayed reaction to an ''outrageous act of insubordination'' in which she, according to the documents, responded to a request from a supervisor, Gay L. Ebers-Franckowiak, by swearing and physically threatening her. That confrontation, two weeks before Ms. Schieffelin was fired, was the last ''in a series of problematic incidents'' involving her, said Emily Nicklin, a partner in Kirkland & Ellis, the Chicago law firm that represents Morgan Stanley.

For some of Ms. Schieffelin's colleagues, the surprise was not that she was fired. The real puzzle was how she had managed to survive for almost two years in the nerve center of a hypercompetitive organization after making her sex-discrimination complaint to the E.E.O.C. in December 1998 -- an act that many of her co-workers and most of her bosses saw as some combination of betrayal and career suicide.

Looking back now, Ms. Schieffelin traces her troubles to 1995. That year, in a written review of her boss, Frank Pratt, she said he ''makes the convertible department and the firm by extension an uncomfortable place for women.''

She added, ''He views men as 'aggressive' and women as 'snippy'; in tough situations, men are 'frustrated,' women are 'too sensitive.' ''

In 1995, Ms. Schieffelin also complained about unwelcome advances by a male managing director. After her internal complaint, Morgan Stanley disciplined the man and sent him for counseling, Ms. Nicklin said. She said the company decided that further punishment, including demotion, was not warranted. ''He asked her to go out on a date a number of times,'' Ms. Nicklin said.

MS. SCHIEFFELIN said she had thought her bosses appreciated her having handled the matter discreetly, but last month she said, ''I believe that management put me on their watch list from the time of the sexual-harassment complaint.''

When she took her discrimination accusation outside the firm three years later, she went from being watched to being unwelcome, she said. That tense period culminated in her confrontation with Ms. Ebers-Franckowiak. According to Ms. Nicklin, Ms. Schieffelin loudly and crudely showed up her supervisor by refusing to follow an instruction, sticking a finger in Ms. Ebers-Franckowiak's face and cursing her.

Wayne N. Outten, a lawyer for Ms. Schieffelin, said Ms. Nicklin's description of the episode was exaggerated. But even if it were accurate, he said, there was no precedent for firing somebody for such behavior.

Ms. Schieffelin never thought things would dissolve into such acrimony. Indeed, she said she thought she could remain in good stead after complaining to John J. Mack, then the president of Morgan Stanley, about not being promoted -- and still felt that way after taking her complaint beyond the firm's executives to the E.E.O.C.

''I really thought that they were going to say: 'Gosh, we know Allie. This is somebody who has been a team player for all of her career,' '' Ms. Schieffelin said. ''I still had that optimism. I thought they were going to say, 'We have got to fix this.' ''

Instead, she said, the company embarked on a ''campaign to get me to quit.'' Her supervisors and some colleagues ostracized her socially, she said, and stopped sharing market news that was vital for her to have to compete for business. Ms. Schieffelin, who had been the firm's highest-paid seller of convertible bonds, fell behind Ms. Ebers-Franckowiak in 1998, Ms. Nicklin said.

Convertible bonds trade over the counter, with firms like Morgan Stanley quoting the prices, in eighths of a dollar, at which they will buy or sell them. Traders have some leeway in the prices they quote to sales representatives like Ms. Schieffelin. After she complained about discrimination, she said, the prices that traders for the company gave her became less competitive. ''You're always off by an eighth,'' she recalled one client telling her.

There were other changes, she said. Within weeks after complaining to Mr. Mack, Ms. Schieffelin said, she was told that she would no longer be sent to recruit at Northwestern University, where she got her M.B.A.

Her ex-husband, David Schieffelin, who had not spoken to her in more than seven years, said his ex-wife had thoroughly bought into the system, hinting that Ms. Schieffelin's devotion to her job had contributed to their breakup. ''She had Morgan Stanley running through her veins,'' he said. ''She did anything these guys needed her to do, whether it was working 75 hours a week or coming back from a vacation. She took up golf for these people.''

For years, Ms. Schieffelin said, she routinely took one-day trips to California to meet with clients. Often, she said, she would leave the trading floor in Manhattan in time for a 3 p.m. flight to Los Angeles. She would have dinner with a client there, then hop on a plane back to New York.

''I really made the choice not to have a family,'' Ms. Schieffelin said in an interview in September. ''I couldn't even have a goldfish.''